RIO DE JANEIRO – At times, the light heavyweight bout between Glover Teixeira and Fabio Maldonado resembled the brutality of an old-school vale tudo fight, and in the birthplace of MMA no less.

But eventually, the violence Teixeira visited on Maldonado prompted the referee to intercede in the interest of mercy, giving prospect Teixeira his hardest-fought win in the octagon.

The light heavyweight bout was part of the main card of Saturday’s UFC 153 event at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Teixieria landed a stiff left hook early and sent Maldonado to the mat with another glancing hook to the temple. All at once, Maldonado was in deep trouble as Teixeira achieved mount and rained down punches and elbows.

After several failed escapes for Maldonado and dozens of hard punches, Teixeira seized an arm triangle and squeezed with all his might. Somehow, Maldonado managed to keep blood flowing to his brain. But his problems were far from over as Teixeira went back to mount and and went to town with elbows.

A badly bloodied Maldonado amazingly escaped to his feet, where Teixeira continued to batter him. Maldonado’s granite chin didn’t betray him, and he managed to land a hook that wobbled Teixeira. Exhausted, Teixeira shot for a takedown, and against all odds, the first round expired.

Teixeira wasted no time taking Maldonado down at the start of the second, and the two scrambled for position. A rapidly swelling Maldonado recovered to his feet and pumped the jab as Teixeira continued to swing big. Sensing better luck on the mat, Teixeira again took the fight down and landed more big shots from up top as Maldonado attempted to tie him up. Vicious elbows continued to slam into Maldonado’s face, and after a period of inactivity, referee Mario Yamasaki called in the cageside doctor. Maldonado protested that he was OK, and despite concern from the doctor, the fight was green-lighted to continue.

But the blows still came. Teixeira took no mercy, landing more big hooks that sent Maldonado staggering back. Again, the battered Brazilian managed to survive, but face was a gruesome sight.

When Maldonado returned to his corner, the cageside doctor took another look at him and quickly decided he had sustained too much punishment to continue.

“Bro, he’s not human,” an exhausted Teixeira said afterward. “He caught me with that left hook (when I was) off-balance. And I was like, ‘Alright, keep hitting me.’ And he got me. But I’m not going to do it again. Trust me.”

Teixeira (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) further ups his stock with a second straight UFC win while the iron-chined Maldonado (18-6 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has now lost three in a row.

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